Counting Stars
by TrustintheFireflies
Summary: Takes place within Chapter 59 so spoilers. In which Mikasa is on watch, and the Captain decides to pay her a visit. For no choices have no consequences, and in order to survive one must be willing to taint their hands with blood. One-Shot. I do not own the cover image. Rated T to be safe.


**As to not keep you from the story I have placed the Author's note at the bottom. Enjoy. **

* * *

It was cold.

A strong gust of cold winter air blew through the stables making even the sturdy stables shiver, shaking its foundations and shaking Mikasa alert again.

A bit startled, Mikasa buried her face into the safety of her scarf, relishing its warmth and the peace of mind it gave her. It still smelled like him, she thought. Of Eren who always managed to smell of forest pines, and the warm home she was welcomed into.

Of Eren who was currently held captive by whatever monsters that were disguised as humans.

Uncurling the fist that she had subconsciously clenched, she lifted her now more attentive gaze to the horizon, where the sun had long retreated.

"Mikasa."

Her hand was on her the rifle in instant. She slung it off her shoulder with practiced precision before spinning on her heel, finger on the trigger and breath held for maximum accuracy.

Captain Levi wasn't fazed. He didn't flinch nor blink even with the muzzle of a deadly weapon right in his face. It made her think about what exactly this man had to go through to make him into the unshakable rock he was.

She lowered her gun, and felt her tense muscles lax again.

"Captain Levi." She stated simply, before turning her gaze off to the surrounding woods.

"Ackerman." He made his way to edge of the roof they were standing on, taking a seat slowly and letting his legs dangle off the edge.

"Shouldn't you be resting Captain?" She said (she couldn't hide the concern in her voice), leaning against her rifle now to look at the stars.

"And shouldn't you have woken Springer for your guard duty shift two hours ago?"

Suddenly startled, she narrowed her eyes at him. How did he know? Had he not gotten any sleep?

He sighed heavily, placing his arms behind him and leaning back now to look at the giant orbs of light in the sky that were stars. "I don't need sleep as much as other soldiers do. Don't worry yourself with such trivial things."

She only nodded, unsure, but she let the topic die, and they fell into a comfortable, companionable silence that Mikasa found she quite enjoyed.

* * *

She didn't know how long she had been standing there when she noticed his face.

The unshakable rock she knew as their Captain always wore the same face; when he awoke, when he was in battle, whenever he was hurt. She supposed they were similar on that front.

But at that moment, his face seemed natural. He wasn't smiling, nor was he frowning, but just seemed simply content, staring up at the stars contemplating and thinking without ever noticing that his mask had fallen off.

"Captain?"

His mask slide on back with a click as he turned to face her again. "Hm?"

"I wanted to thank you, sir."

He arched a brow, eyes narrowing a bit.

"Those words you said, to Armin and Jean today, it was exactly what they needed to get them grounded again. Thank you sir."

A gust of wind and her scarf rounded her head another time, and the blew the bangs from his eyes. They were wide. He gestured for her to sit next to him and she complied.

"Armin and Jean...dirtied their hands for us, no one wants to have bloody hands...and for that I am grateful..but next time they must not show hesitance. There is no black and white, no room for morals in this situation we are in, with the people we are dealing with. That's just the cruel reality of this world."

"Yes." She nodded solemnly, tracing the metal finish of the gun with a fore finger absently. "The world is cruel like that."

His eyes were on her face now. She could see it, he was looking for something, a clue or any give away to the question he was about to ask. Yet she couldn't help the flush that came to her face from his intense stare, and buried her nose in her scarf again, taking in a fresh breath of pines and home.

"I already know. That wasn't your first time taking human life, was it?"

She had frozen and flashes of memories of screams and blood crossed through closed eyelids. And suddenly she was nine again, powerless and alone.

A hand on her shoulder snapped her from her reverie.

"I won't ask for details." His voice was even and calm, and she didn't realize how soothing it was. "But I feel like I should also thank you, for willingly tainting your hands again. Especially when I can't properly justify our actions."

He tore his gaze from her again and reached over her to take to her rifle.

"The only thing we can really do; is to believe that we won't live to regret the choices we make."

He stood, slinging the gun over his injured shoulder with only a slight wince, before extending a and to help her up. She took it mainly out of gratitude for the gesture, and realized how rough his hands felt, compared to her relatively soft ones.

"Go get some rest, Ackerm...I mean Mikasa. I want you at your best for tomorrow's infiltration. That's an order."

And for the first time in months, she let the smallest of smiles grace her lips, something that didn't go unnoticed by Levi.

"Yes, Captain."

"Sleep well, Mikasa..."

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**I went through quite to writer's block, so I just decided to grab a piece of cake, play the Tron Legacy music in the background and this came out.**

**Bout time I got my writing muscles back in action, and though I know this isn't the very, very best I can do, I am quite pleased with how this came out. Ending came out a bit rushed though.**

**Not much seemed to happen in Chapter 59, though, it was a time of recovery for the squad a lot of room for my mind to wander. I just love to see Mikasa and Levi interact, whether it be romantic or not. But if you squint a bit you can find a bit of my inner shipper, though, hue. **

**Okay! So thank you for reading, and please, please leave a constructive review! It really helps me out a lot, and motivates me more. Let me know if you want more canon verse pieces like this or would like to see other characters or like more AU snippets like the other one I wrote. So please drop a review and tell me how this turned out!**


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